Ben Charny at eWeek reports: “Google’s ‘Oogle’ Hunters Bag Another One.” What’s it all about? The magic of the double-o, reports Charny:

Google’s Rose Hagan, senior trademark counsel, explained during an an interview that Google is continuously monitoring the Internet for sites with names like Boogle, Foogle and Hoogle, etc. It usually will only go after Internet search engine sites with similar-sounding names.

After each potential Google trademark offender surfaces, it first gets a Google letter of warning, she said. That usually does the trick, and the name is soon changed.

…

“We aren’t trying to own the double O,” Hagan said. “We take steps to protect the Google brand.”

Author:Ron Coleman

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[…] It’s obvious to me that Google has made a conscious decision not to police the use of its trademark as a verb, because as far as I know it never does.Â The reason is not obvious to me, however, since Google does indeed police other trademark infringements, including dubious ones. But I am very reluctant to second guess Google, which has been very, very good to this blog! […]

The question of whether consumers are likely to be confused is the signal inquiry that determines if a trademark infringement claim is valid. This blog is about trademark law, copyright law, free speech (mostly as it relates to the Internet) and legal issues related to blogging.

As for me, I'm a partner and commercial litigator at Archer & Greiner PC* with offices in New York and New Jersey (but active nationwide) and, some say, "IP maven"* with a special interest in copyright and trademark infringement involving the Internet--including advising clients how to avoid them.

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Then there's this kind of odd thing, and also something called Inspired Sites where this blog is categorized under "Naming / Branding / Language" rather than law, which is, as the young folk say, "kind of cool."

Of course, it's easy to game almost any ranking system -- not that I've tried to... as such. These just are what they are.

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The opinions expressed here are my own, and not necessarily those of Archer & Greiner, P.C.

THIS BLOG IS ONLY A BLOG, NOT LEGAL ADVICE. IT IS IN PART AN ADVERTISEMENT FOR LEGAL SERVICES BY ME, RONALD D. COLEMAN, BUT I AM NOT YOUR LAWYER. YOU ARE NOT MY CLIENT. JUST WALK BESIDE ME AND BE MY FRIEND.

*The term maven is used to mean "wise guy" here and is not meant to suggest that I am certified or otherwise authorized under bar rules to claim "expertise" in any field of legal practice. But try me.